I’m using version 4.2 and I just wonder if anyone else has this same problem.
I’ve done some searches about it and it seems like there used to be a problem with this before 4.1. I only really started my project in version 4.1 and also updated to 4.1.1 and never had this happen but now in version 4.2 I get much lower frame rates when I run in Standalone mode. When I simply run in a Separate Window there are no problems, I get smooth frame rates.
I’ve been trying to find a reason for it, like disabling things and testing it like that but it just always is much slower. It seems like it’s just generally slower regardless of what’s on screen or what features are enabled or disabled.
So, I just wanted to feel out the forums first and see if people have similar problems and maybe if there’s a known solution or something before maybe reporting as an actual problem.
Sorry to hear about the low fps with this. Would you mind posting this on the AnswerHub](http://answers.unrealengine.com) in the ‘Bugs’ section for quicker assistance and tracking purposes? I’ll start looking into this as well.
Here are the stats I got from the using 4.1.1 vs 4.2
Tested on:
Shooter Game
4.1.1
Standalone Game: ~42fps
New Editor Window: ~30fps
4.2
Standalone Game: ~39fps
New Editor Window: ~40fps
Cave Effects
4.1.1
Standalone Game: ~49fps (this was in the heavy snow area outside of the cave. This was the lowest FPS I could get. Most everything stayed around 55-60fps)
New Editor Window: ~27fps
4.2
Standalone Game: ~36fps (I did see a drop here though)
New Editor Window: ~54fps
Are you using an example from the marketplace when doing this a custom project? Anything that helps me replicate it on my end would be beneficial.
I am using a custom project. I did try and test the Shooter but it did not run in 4.2. It wants to compile something. I tested it in 4.1.1 and it runs fine. Although my own project ran fine in 4.1.1 also. I will test more on my side with a brand new project and see what happens.
So you can see also in your test a massive frame rate drop in Standalone mode.
In fact, I see your 4.1.1 results seems like mine as well, I used to get better FPS in Standalone mode when I was using 4.1.1. Now it’s kinda like it’s swapped.
Are you using C++ and Visual studio to compile your projects?
Also a note about the Shooter Game in 4.2. Since it’s based in code you will need to recompile it using Visual studio 2013. However, if you download Shooter Game from the Marketplace while set to 4.2 it will download and run fine. This will not overwrite your 4.1 or earlier version of the project.
While I will agree that I did see a drop in frame rate I wouldn’t say that my drop of ~3 FPS for Shooter Game was a “Massive” drop. The drop in Cave effects was more significant but without further testing I couldn’t say for sure.
The true to way to test though would be to use Frontend and bake the game. Having the game running with the editor still open in the back ground is going to affect the FPS. You can test this yourself by opening up Cave Effects. Before/or after the Standalone Game Window is opened you need to turn off the “Realtime” check box in the viewport. Once turning that off you will see that the FPS increases (~54 FPS).
Depending on what’s happening in your project viewport and trying to run the game can have effects on your project’s FPS.
So I tested 2 clean 3rd Person template projects. The easiest way I can get the frame rate drop to happen is to simply push up resolution. With 1680x1050 I already get below 60fps unless I’m staring directly at a wall then it’s just barely above 60. I also tested another one by putting some objects and more complex materials. Threw in a bunch of those chairs and applied some brick and wood materials from the demo content. And that would make it drop even lower, around 50, and in some cases depending on the view even below 50.
When I run in the separate window, it sits at around 90fps with the clean scene and around 85 with the scene that I added the stuff into.
I don’t know if this helps, but as far as I can tell, it just always is slower no matter what I run or what project I run. I tested 3 separate projects. Two being the 3rd Person template and one my own custom project that was originally derived from the 3rd person template.
Thanks for your reply again, I appreciate the time you spend on this.
I am not using C++. I just haven’t been able to download the shooter game again to test it out. I will download the 4.2 to test it though, compared to 4.1.1.
I just want to mention that I do keep real time render off basically at all times when I work and I did make sure originally before I posted anything, that it wasn’t the problem, and it’s not.
The reason I posted about this in the first place is simply because going from version 4.1.1 to version 4.2, there is a really big difference in the frame rates I get under the same conditions.
I’m having the same problem as OP and looking at this thread on the Answers hub it seems ‘Play In Standalone Game’ mode doesn’t pick up the Engine Scalability settings set in the editor. This appears to be true as bumping the scalability to ‘Epic’ in my editor produces a similar FPS to that of standalone.
While the final game will obviously expose video settings through a menu, what is the best practice for controlling graphics quality in the standalone mode? Should I just hardcode some ini files for now or rig something up through blueprint like the person in the Answers thread has done?
I was having the same performance problem until I turned off real-time mode before entering “Play In Standalone Game”. After I did that, I got a constant 62 FPS. I don’t know if anyone suggusted it yet, but you might want to try this out.
Hmmm no luck there - the standalone mode seems to be picking the settings from elsewhere. Eg: In my editor screen space realtime reflections are OFF as my settings are ‘medium’, in standalone mode SSRR is ON. It’s not that big a deal as I’m sure I can configure the settings somewhere but I was curious as to what the best practice is for this.
I’ve been working with the ShooterGame4.1 for about 2 months now. Decided to update to 4.3 today, downloaded ShooterGame4.3 and I noticed my StandAlone game my fps was horrendous, around 5-10fps, where as my PIE fps is about 55-60fps. Ctrl-R worked and restored my StandAlone FPS to 55-60fps. Really odd, what is causing this?
AFAIK, running PIE with the editor on real-time in the background is essentially running two instances of your game simultaneously - even while your editor is in the background it continues to compute. Ctrl-R renders the editor static freeing your system to be used by the PIE session.
Personally I leave real-time off as I’ve noticed both GPU temperatures and power consumption remain high even if I have the Unreal Editor minimized - which is pretty much all the time I’m going through tutorials/resources/etc
I have the same problem: When running as PIE (in-editor or separate window), my game runs fine (capped at 60fps). But when running as standalone game (or even after packaging the project and running it with UE4 editor closed), the performance is much worse (around 35fps at certain sections of my level).
How is that possible? I’d imagine it to be the other way around… are there any settings that prevent this bug?
In my case at least, this happens because the standalone game runs in ‘Epic’ mode with all features like screen space reflections enabled regardless of how the engine scalability settings are configured. The OP in the thread I linked has figured a way to configure settings for standalone via blueprint.
I’m still waiting for an answer on what the best practices around this are though - not sure if I’ve missed something in one of the video tutorials.
Yes, I already have 2 shortcuts that set all scalability settings to their lowest / highest settings. Even with lowest settings (which look aweful), the standalone version is still slower than the PIE version with highest settings.
